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The Bluest Eye Study Guide THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE STUDY GUIDE Created by Virginia Stage Company in collaboration with Norfolk State University and The College of William & Mary 1 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 1 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE 2 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 2 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE What To Expect InThis Guide To learn more about the evolvement from novel to show, analysis, background information, and engagement models Contents 4 Theatre Etiquette 5 Biographies 5 Toni Morrison 5 Lydia Diamond 5 Synopsis 6 Characters 7 World of the Play 8 Lexicon: Background and Cultural Context 8 Important Locations 8 Cultural Context 10 Flora and Their Significance 12 Adaptation: An Essay 12 Genetic Engineering: The Miracle of Successful Adaptations 15 Works Cited and Consulted 15 Additional Information 16 Canon 16 Toni Morrison 18 Lydia Diamond 19 Bibliography Created by Virginia Stage Company in collaboration with Norfolk State University and The College of William & Mary Layout by Crystal Tuxhorn 3 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 3 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE Theatre Etiquette There are simple rules that all audience members should follow to make the play as enjoyable as possible. Remember, a live theater performance can be very exciting. All of the people involved in the production, both cast and crew, work very hard to be sure they give a great performance. It is the job of the audience members to help the performers give their best performance possible. The audience can do this by practicing the rules of theater etiquette. • Arrive at the theater on time. • Visit the restroom before the performance begins. • Turn off your cell phone or, if it must be on, put it on vibrate. Do not speak on the phone OR text during the performance. • Pay attention to announcements that are made prior to many shows about the rules of the theater you are attending and the location of the fire exits. • Don’t speak during the performance...whispering is still speaking, so only in an emergency. Remember that the Overture (introductory music) in Musical Theater is part of the performance, so be quiet when it begins. • Do not take pictures during the performance. It is prohibited by law and can be very distracting to the actors. • Remain in your seat for the entire performance. If you must leave, exit during intermission. In an emergency, wait for an appropriate break in the show. It is rude to get up in the middle of a quiet moment...rude to the actors and your fellow audience members. • Do not eat or drink in the theater. If you must have a cough drop, or something of that nature, do not make noise with the wrapper. • Do not put your feet up on the seats or balcony and do not kick the seat in front of you. • Do not angle your head together with your “special someone” as you obstruct the view of the people behind you. • Don’t put or throw anything on the stage. • Do laugh when the performance is funny. • Do applaud when it is appropriate during the performance. • Do applaud when the performance is over...this tells the performers and crew that you appreciate their work. • Stand and applaud if you really thought the show was great. • Do not whistle or scream out to the performers. 4 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 4 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE Biographies Toni Morrison & Lydia Diamond Toni Morrison Acclaimed author and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison has been lauded for her role in making black literature mainstream. The second child out of four from a working-class African American family, Morrison attended Howard University in 1949. She graduated in 1953 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and went on to Cornell University to earn her Master of Arts in 1955. From there, Morrison taught at various universities before becoming the first black female senior editor in the fiction department at Random House. Morrison initially conceptualized The Bluest Eye as a short story. Holt, Rinehart, and Winston published the novel in 1970 where it garnered attention as mandatory reading for the Black Studies department at The City University of New York City. Morrison’s second published work, Sula, was nominated for a National Book Award. Beloved, Morrison’s most notable work for which she won a Pulitzer prize, was published in 1987. She was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993, making Morrison the first black woman of any nationality to win a Nobel Prize. Lydia Diamond Lydia R. Diamond, a graduate of Northwestern University, has won widespread acclaim for her work as a playwright. Diamond was born in 1969 in Detroit, Michigan. She recently worked as a professor of theatre at Boston University. Among other accolades, she was a W.E.B. Du Bois institute fellow in 2005 and 2006, and received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Pine Manor College. Along with Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, her works include The Gift Horse, Smart People, Stick Fly, and Voyeurs de Venus. Her works frequently deal with issues of gender and race. Diamond and her husband Dr. John Diamond have a son named Baylor. She is now a clinical associate professor of theatre at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Synopsis The Bluest Eye tells the story of one year in the life of a young black girl in 1940s Lorain, Ohio. Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove wants nothing more than to be loved by her family and schoolmates. Left to fend for herself, she blames her dark skin and prays for blue eyes, sure that love will follow. The events of The Bluest Eye take place primarily from the Autumn of 1940 to the same time in 1941, but in order to explain the full stories behind those events, the narrative frequently moves back in time. 5 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 5 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE Characters Claudia MacTeer is the younger of two sisters in the MacTeer family. She contributes two “voices” to the story — one as a child, one as an adult — with curiosity, compassion and perspective, which she uses to reflect on the fate of her childhood friend, Pecola. Frieda MacTeer is the older of the sisters, less adventuresome and witty than Claudia and, in some ways, dependent on her sister for judgment, despite her reserves of general, practical information. Pecola Breedlove is the “little -girl-gone-to-woman” in the story. She shares her family’s conviction that she is ugly and unworthy but somehow has sufficient resolve to attempt a few self-help strategies. Of all the characters, Pecola has been most damaged by her circumstances in life, beginning with having a family incapable of normal expressions of love and protection. Nearly every event in her life leaves her a victim, and the story examines what influences led to her fate and what influences kept her from being helped. Mrs. MacTeer/Mama is too busy maintaining a household on meager resources to hover affectionately over her children, but her love for Claudia and Frieda is evident in the work she does to keep the family nourished, healthy and together. Mr. MacTeer has little verbal presence in his household, but he works hard to keep the family going and is fiercely protective of his children when it is necessary. Mr. Yacobowski as a member of the immigrant working class, has also been marginalized by mainstream society, but as a white male, he is “allowed” to feel superior to a little black girl. His interaction with Pecola supplies the narrative with a vignette portraying the dynamics of class division in American society. Mrs. Breedlove/Pauline originally from the South, fails to find community, intimacy or sustaining work in Ohio. She falls under the spell of lifestyle and beauty standards that she cannot achieve and consequently drifts into resentment, self righteousness and greater isolation. Cut off from any source of emotional self-nourishment, she is unable to nurture her children. Her daughter, Pecola, calls her Mrs. Breedlove. Mr. Breedlove/Cholly Pauline’s husband and Pecola’s father, knew nothing about his father and was abandoned by his mother at four days of age. He is, nonetheless, vigorous, sensual and spirited — perhaps because he was rescued and raised by Aunt Jimmy and her warm-hearted female friends — and has no trouble calling attention to himself once he leaves home after his aunt’s death and enters the world. Aunt Jimmy is Cholly’s aunt, who rescues him at the age of four days from the train tracks. She is a woman of great energy and warmth and, as a result, is surrounded by a bevy of older female friends who heap affection and concern onto Cholly. When she becomes ill and dies, Cholly is overwhelmed with feelings of loss but has no means of expressing them. Although Aunt Jimmy’s friends would have stepped in to take charge of him, Cholly, with no immediate family members left, flees. Soaphead Church/Elihue Micah Whitcomb His name Soaphead refers to the particular appearance of his hair—tight and curly that held “a sheen and wave when pomaded with soap lather.” Soaphead’s chief attribute is his fastidiousness, which creates the necessity for a pristine and lifeless “life.” He uses his “special powers” to grant Pecola her wish for blue eyes. 6 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 6 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE The World of the Play 7 VIRGINIA STAGE COMPANY 7 THE BLUEST EYE STUDY GUIDE Lexicon Background & Cultural Content IMPORTANT LOCATIONS: The play takes place around 1941 in Lorain, Ohio-the same city where Morrison lived as a child. Garden Avenue: Garden Avenue is a road in Lorain, Ohio, that was frequented by Toni Morrison in her youth.
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